CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (Feb.
23)--The Summit USMTS Southern
Series powered by Production Jars
kicked off the 2018 campaign Friday
with the first round of the 9th
Annual Summit USMTS Winter
Speedweeks presented by MSD
Performance, and Johnny Scott
becoming the first driver to dance
in victory lane.

The
28-year-old from Las Cruces, N.M.,
and now residing in Cameron, Mo.,
appeared to be heading for a
runner-up finish in the season's
first 40-lap main event, but
mechanical troubles for race-long
leader Rodney Sanders with just five
laps remaining cleared the path for
Scott.

"We had a really good
car tonight, but no doubt Rodney had
the fastest car tonight," Scott said
in victory lane. "I hate it for his
guys but we'll take them however we
can get them. These wins are so hard
to come by."

While Sanders
was dominant from the start of the
first heat race until his undoing
late in the feature race, several
others gave the wind-blown Corpus
Christi crowd plenty of action to
witness.

Jon Mitchell, who
started next to Sanders on the front
row, battled inside the top three
positions the whole race and
eventually held off hard-charging
Cade Dillard for second-place money.

Tenth-starting Joe Duvall
registered a fourth-place result
while Dereck Ramirez roared from
15th on the grid to notch the final
spot in the top five.

Round 2 of the 9th Annual Summit
USMTS Winter Speedweeks continues at
the South Texas Speedway on
Saturday. Spectator gates open at 6
p.m. both Friday and Saturday with
hot laps at 7 and racing at 7:30.

Then on Sunday, the action moves
to the Texana Raceway in Edna. Gates
open at 1 p.m., hot laps start at
4:30 and racing begins at 5. General
admission tickets are $20 and pit
passes are $35. Limited Mods and
Pure Stocks are racing for $750 and
$500 to win, respectively,